We All Need Healthy Community

Family was my first introduction to healthy community, and my lovely wife and three incredible children have emphasized the importance of cultivating healthy community.

I ventured to Europe in my early twenties, and quickly learned that if we do not consciously choose to cultivate community we will be left in isolation. For me, that meant learning the language and customs of the people around me. It meant sharing meals around all types of tables. It meant asking for forgiveness for not meeting expectations that were foreign to me, and offering forgiveness when I felt misunderstood or forgotten. I cherish my fourteen years in Germany, the lessons I have learned, and the people that have shaped me through the community that we cultivated together.

My young family has recently set off on a new adventure: to cultivate healthy community in the same but very changed country that my wife and I grew up in. Healthy community requires a conscious effort in any location. We are excited for the community cultivating stories that will be served on shared tables, and lived out in our encounters.

Stories and Insights

My family. My community. The nation I live in. Our world. We - all of us - need help! In the next two months, the number of displaced people in my city will double. Men and women, boys and girls, are forced to flee and seek refuge in a culture that is not their own....

How much do you think someone would pay for your old unused resolution? This is one of my issues with new year’s resolutions. They aren’t worth anything to anyone else, and yet they become precious to us. They excite us. They distress us and very often, disappoint us....

Have you ever seen a small child attempt to pour a drink from a pitcher of water or from a carton of milk? His little muscles begin to quiver, his jaw tenses – maybe his tongue sticks out from the side of his mouth for balance. He has the best of intentions, but for some […]

Winter in Germany this year has been brutal. Frigid temperatures, heaps of snow and freezing rain were not on my Christmas wish list. I have the blessing (curse) of a long driveway. When winter strikes, the curse begins. Shoveling parties are anything but fun. Just last week, I had to purchase 50 kilos of […]

I have a hard time asking for help. A crippling feeling overtakes my body and mind when I have a need that I cannot remedy. This is a struggle that I have been working on, but still plagues me. I am sure I am not alone. To ask for something leaves us at the mercy […]